BATON ROUGE — Having defeated Kentucky, 3-1, earlier this season on the road, the 12th-ranked LSU volleyball team looks to sweep the Southeastern Conference season series with the Wildcats on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
Live statistics will be available on the official LSU athletics website, LSUsports.net.
The Tigers are now 16-3 on the season and 8-2 in SEC play, which puts LSU in a tie with Alabama for first in the SEC West, a game behind Florida overall. Kentucky is 12-6 overall and 5-5 in conference action, having won three of its last four matches including a five-game win over No. 25 Tennessee last week.
“Kentucky is a very solid, disciplined team and they present many challenges to all opponents,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “They are coming off a very big win over Tennessee last week. This is going to be a very, very important match for us. We need to get back into a very a good rhythm. We’re anxious to get back on our home court and enjoy playing in front of our fans again. We need to come out and try to lead rather than follow in the tempo of this match.”
In their first meeting of the season, the Tigers earned their first win over the Wildcats in Lexington since 1999 with a 29-31, 30-19, 30-25, 30-21, on Sept. 17.
“They have adapted and adjusted their offense to be a little quicker and that will present some problems for us defensively in blocking,” said Flory. “The last match that we played against them at their place was a battle and I know that they will have made some very good adjustments.”
In that match, LSU started out on a tear in game one, taking the 5-1 lead, but Kentucky came back to tie it up at nine. The pair then posted 12 ties before the Wildcats held the first game point, 29-28. A service error tied it up for the 13th time. Kentucky then got back-to-back kills to take the game one win, 31-29.
The Tigers came out in the second game and fell behind early, 8-5, but went on a 5-0 run to take the lead for good, 10-8. LSU pulled ahead by four, 15-11, and the Wildcats never got closer than three the rest of the way as the Tigers convincingly took the game and tied the match, 30-19.
With the third game tied at nine all, Kentucky went on a run that saw the Wildcats lead by as many as six, 18-12. LSU then started a monumental comeback. The Tigers scored nine of the next 12 points to tie it up at 21 on a run that saw the LSU post three blocks and a service ace. The Tigers then closed out the game on a 9-4 run on a kill by Romero, 30-25.
LSU came out and put the final game away early. The Tigers led 12-8, and Kentucky never got closer than two the rest of the way. With the Tigers leading 20-17, LSU scored 10 of the final 14 points of the match to easily win, 30-21.
For that match, sophomore Marina Skender led the Tigers with 17 kills and 17 digs, while freshman Lauren DeGirolamo posted 14 kills and 10 blocks. Skender also led the match with four service aces, while senior Kassi Mikulik posted 14 digs. Senior Daniela Romero Recorded her 3,500th career assists with her 38th assist of the match, finishing with 47.
Nicole Britenriker led the match and Kentucky with 23 kills, while no other Wildcat posted in double figures. She also led UK with 16 digs, followed by Jenni Casper and Julie Gagnon with 12 each and Alisa Pierce with 11.
For the season, the Tigers and Wildcats are fairly evenly matched statistically. LSU leads the SEC with an average of 16.6 kills per game, and are posting a.229 hitting percentage, while Kentucky posts 16.1 kills per game and a .226 attacking mark. Additionally, the Tigers average 1.9 service aces per game, compared to 1.7 for the Wildcats.
Defensively, LSU lead Kentucky with 3.0 blocks per game compared to 2.3 per game for the Wildcats. In addition, the Tigers hold an advantage in digs per game, averaging 16.6 a game, while Kentucky comes in at 15.6. LSU is also holding opponents to an SEC low .146 attacking percentage, while the Wildcats’ opponents are hitting .195 this season.
DeGirolamo leads the Tigers and ranks 14th in the nation with 1.61 blocks per game. After redshirting last year, the Belleville, Ill., native has recorded seven matches with eight or more blocks this season, including back-to-back double-figure block performances against Tennessee and Kentucky earlier this year. In addition, she is averaging 3.27 kills per game with a .343 hitting percentage.
Offensively, LSU is balanced with three players averaging over three kills a game and five players averaging over two kills per game. Skender leads the way with 3.72 kills per game, followed by sophomore Kyna Washington at 3.22. In addition, Skender is tied for the lead in the SEC with 0.72 service aces per game, which ranks fourth nationally.
Mikulik leads the Tigers with 4.57 digs per game. The Flatonia, Texas, libero is just 37 digs from moving into fifth place in career digs in LSU history. She also needs only 74 digs to break into the top 10 in single-season digs.
Romero leads the SEC and ranks 14th in the NCAA with 13.21 assists per game. Currently ranked second in career assists in school history, the senior from Arlington, Texas, needs 147 assists to record her 4,000th career assist. In addition, she is 37 digs away from breaking into the top 10 in career digs in LSU history.
Britenriker leads Kentucky with 4.03 kills per game, which ranks fourth in the SEC, followed by Ashlee Fisher with 3.30 and Queen Nzenwa with 3.12. Nzenwa leads the Wildcats with 1.12 blocks per game, the only Kentucky player averaging over a block per game. Casper, a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, leads Kentucky with 4.63 digs per game.
The Tigers trail the overall series with the Wildcats, 23-19, but have won two of the last three. Last year, LSU and Kentucky split a pair of meetings, with each winning the match at home, including the Tigers’ five-game winner in the PMAC to conclude the regular season and give LSU a share of the SEC Western Division title.
Both the LSU soccer and volleyball will have crucial television matches on Sunday. Fans with tickets to either the volleyball or soccer games are encouraged to use those ticket stubs to attend the other event for FREE.
The Tiger soccer team gets things kicked off as LSU hosts No. 12 Florida, which leads the SEC, at noon at the LSU Soccer Complex. The first 250 fans will receive free soccer keychains at the game, which will be televised on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37.
Following the soccer game, fans are encouraged to go to the Maravich Center for the Tiger volleyball team’s match against No. 25 Tennessee at 3:30 p.m. Prior to the match, inflatables will be available for children as volleyball celebrates “Mike the Tiger’s Birthday”. Pictures with Mike the mascot and a Mike the Tiger cake will help fans celebrate the occasion.
Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts can get into the match free with “Advocate” tickets by showing up at the PMAC ticket office in their Scout uniforms. Scout volleyball badges will help fans celebrate the occasion. The match will be televised on SEC-TV in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest on cable channel 38.